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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 3/7/2009
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 Richard Halliburton (1900)Halliburton was an American adventurer and pioneer of adventure journalism. He liked to recreate historical and legendary feats in his travels, such as Hannibal's passage over the Alps on an elephant and Odysseus's journey around the Mediterranean, and made his living writing and lecturing about his experiences. He is, however, perhaps best known for having swum the length of the Panama Canal. He disappeared while attempting to sail a Chinese junk, the Sea Dragon, from Hong Kong to where? More...
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 4/13/2009
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In my youth, following the advice of a teacher, I read two of Halliburton's books. I enjoyed them. Some time later, however, I ran across books with chapters debunking several of Halliburton's exploits as outrageous fabrication. In particular, I recall comments about his moonlight swim in the reflecting pool of the Taj Mahal, the problem being that this pool, like other large reflecting pools, is necessarily only a few inches deep to minimize ripples and image distortion. Made a good story, though. Sold a lot of books.
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 12/7/2010
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Location: India
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I don't see what could be 'adventurous' about swimming in a reflecting pool at night anyway!
वसुधैव कुटुम्बकं - हितोपदेश The world is my family.- Hitopadesh
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Rank: Advanced Member
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Angus wrote:In my youth, following the advice of a teacher, I read two of Halliburton's books. I enjoyed them. Some time later, however, I ran across books with chapters debunking several of Halliburton's exploits as outrageous fabrication. In particular, I recall comments about his moonlight swim in the reflecting pool of the Taj Mahal, the problem being that this pool, like other large reflecting pools, is necessarily only a few inches deep to minimize ripples and image distortion. Made a good story, though. Sold a lot of books. I often find that the best storytellers are not necessarily 100% honest in recounting the facts. Halliburton is probably no exception, but he was wonderful at what he did.
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